Troubleshooter: Computer repair

A North Carolina State University student's computer was less than a year old when the student began having problems with the machine, so she took it for repair under the warranty.

Despite thinking she would have the computer back in a week and a half, it took much longer.

The computer is vital to Brittani Chirichella.

"Most of my work is done from Excel, which is data entry and a lot of my projects, school and classes is done online," Chirichella said.

Despite being less than a year old, she says the laptop stopped working at the beginning of January.

"When I would plug in the charger, it would say plugged not charging so eventually it died out," she explained.

Chirichella took the computer to Best Buy, where she bought it, since it was still under the manufacturer warranty.

"They charged me an $84 shipping fee and said they would be done in 7 to 10 days," she said.

On day 10, Chirichella was ready to pick up her computer.

"On day 10, I called them and they said I should have been told 14 days from the beginning," Chirichella added. "Then I called on day 14, and they said I should have been told 14 days it will be another 4 to 5 days."

She kept calling but wasn't getting good news.

"I was getting really frustrated so I called again, and I spoke to someone else who told me, 'I can't walk to California to get your computer back,'" Chirichella recalled.

Fed up, Chirichella contacted the ABC11 Eyewitness News I-Team Troubleshooter for help. She said as soon as she sent her information to ABC11, she received a call from the Best Buy corporate office.

A Best Buy representative offered her a $50 gift card for her troubles and got her computer back to her within a day. Chirichella says the computer is working great and she is happy she has it to do her school work.

A representative for Best Buy said in part, ""This was an unfortunate situation where the manufacturer of our customer's computer failed [due] to timely status reports and ultimately returned the computer without completing the necessary repairs. While these delays are rare, we understand how disruptive they can be for people who depend on their computers."

Besides the $50 gift card, Best Buy also gave the initial shipping fee of $84 back to Chirichella, and the computer works.